Mercari has no plans to withdraw from the US market

Mercari told the Nikkei news agency that it has no plans to withdraw from the U.S. market after the U.S. layoffs were confirmed. Nikkei reported that the Japanese company has laid off nearly half of the employees at its U.S. subsidiary.

According to Nikkei, US online marketplace Mercari is struggling with “declining sales and competition from low-priced Chinese e-commerce rivals such as Temu.”

Mercari caused a stir in March when it announced a restructuring of its fees, eliminating all selling fees (except for the withdrawal fee) and passing the fees on to buyers. Mercari told the Nikkei that “at least in the short term, there were not enough results.”

As reported on Friday, Etsy-owned Depop has also passed on fees from sellers to buyers, with the exception of payment processing fees, which sellers will have to pay.

In theory, shifting fees from sellers to buyers should induce sellers to lower their prices, but it is unclear whether buyers and sellers will find a price equilibrium or whether buyers will be permanently discouraged from paying market fees.